Bypass

While it is not unusual to find that many of the things done by government make no sense to normal people, the Route 222 Bypass is in a class by itself. Some government authorities involved in this situation may pleasantly surprise you, and I'll get to that shortly. First, let's examine the bypass. It runs from the western outskirts of Allentown and loops around Trexlertown to provide smooth sailing instead of what once could be rush-hour hell on the original Route 222. It is a nice four-lane divided highway with a few widely spaced traffic lights to accommodate cross traffic at well-designed intersections.

I moved to Allentown in 2002. Driving to work on my first day at Kutztown University, stuck behind a trash truck for 12 miles down Schantz Road and onto Route 222 until the Kutztown bypass, I wondered, through the inescapable stench, what I had gotten myself into. Had I not found an alternative route that avoided 222 on my commute, I probably would have moved to avoid it. Road Warrior Dan Hartzell recently wrote about the Route 222 intersection with Schantz Road . In his column, he noted the possibility of a roundabout, which was characterized as a permanent solution by a state Transportation Department official.

A ditch digger cuts through a temporary road surface at the Hancock Street section of the Route 61 bypass at St. Clair. Heavy equipment begins removing the temporary surface that was placed to let traffic move while the Hancock Street crossing was paved. The four-lane bypass is not expected to be opened to traffic over the winter as anticipated because dropping temperatures will not allow placement of a 1 1/2 -inch wearing surface on the road. The temperature is required to be a minimum of 40 degrees and rising.

HARRISBURG - The Nov. 4 election between Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and Democrat Tom Wolf is being billed as historic. Either Wolf becomes the first challenger to knock off a sitting Pennsylvania governor since the 1960s. Or Corbett makes a monstrous comeback from poll numbers that show him a solid 20 points down. But before Wolf can tackle Corbett, he needs to navigate his way through a battle in his own party. The Pennsylvania State Democratic Party's financial and political significance is being threatened by an internal power struggle between Chairman Jim Burn of Allegheny County and Wolf, the wealthy York County businessman who won the primary election in a landslide over three other candidates.

To the Editor: With the demise of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the removal of the railroad tracks, I understand the right of way can be bought on the bed of the former road. Now there is a suggestion that a bypass could be made for trucks using this roadway. Would it not be still more wonderful if a bypass by PennDOT would be made for all vehicles, with a road connecting with Route 873 south of Friedens? How much safer through Slatington it would be for everyone, and the guard rails being put up now in Slatington would not be needed, and one stop light could be eliminated.

To the Editor: In "Another View" column that appeared on Jan. 15, the director of the Allentown Health Bureau feels it is time to fluoridate water. As the director of the health bureau brings out in the article, "the emotionally charged fluoridation war of the 1970s has come and gone and left lasting political scars." Now the director is attempting to bypass local political leaders who are more familiar with what is best for Allentown and asking Harrisburg to get involved. I believe that the director is attempting to bypass local elected officials on this issue and force fluoridation on the residents of Allentown and on the municipalities that buy city water without input from the local residents and elected officials.

To the Editor: Mr. Glenn Taggart wants to spend $2.5 million for a Hamilton Street bypass to relieve traffic at the Cedar Crest Boulevard intersection. Wow! he must have gone to school with Caspar Weinberger and others who think spending money is the best solution to any problem. It appears to me that constructing such a bypass would create two intersections for Cedar Crest Boulevard, thereby doubling the problems for north-south traffic. Also, the east-west traffic will still have to use the present Hamilton Boulevard section that goes under 309. If Mr. Taggart feels a bypass will solve the problem at Cedar Crest, does he think that this will relieve the slow-downs created by the construction problems at 309?

A vocal group of residents persuaded Hilltown supervisors in November to take the words "alternative" and "around" out of the traffic portion of the township's Comprehensive Plan because they were veiled references to bypasses, a controversial subject. Although the supervisors doubted this would deter a future bypass, they made the change anyway. Now, that decision has spurred another controversy. At a meeting Monday night, new Supervisor Jack Fox claimed that his associates, Kenneth Bennington and William Bennett, violated a section of the state Municipalities Planning Code when the plan was altered.

A workman gets the bottom of a trench ready for installation of storm sewer pipes at the construction site of the new Lehighton highway bypass. Work is resuming on the project that was started last month.

HARRISBURG — Jim Cawley for governor? Thousands more Republican voters on Tuesday backed Cawley, Gov. Tom Corbett's lieutenant governor, than the governor himself, signaling their displeasure with the chief executive. Many also voted for their Republican congressman but not for Corbett. Of course the Republican governor faced no opposition Tuesday, so technically the difference means nothing. But analysts viewed it as another sign of his electoral troubles heading into the fall against Democrat Tom Wolf, who easily won his party's primary election.

Q: Recently a 'Left Turn Signal/Red Arrow' light was added to the intersection of Route 100/222 and Grim Road in Upper Macungie Township. Not a solid-red stop light, but a red arrow. If you come to a complete stop, are you able to turn left on the red arrow? It's especially intimidating with an Upper Macungie police cruiser parked in the concrete island at one or the other end of the intersection. I have seen a few people turn left on the red arrow, but most wait until they have a green arrow.

Yes it's Christmas time, and we're thinking good thoughts. But I found an article in the Dec. 7 Christian Science Monitor regarding the selling out by the Pentagon. I was appalled that the Pentagon bypassed U.S. companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin and turned to our Cold War villain, Moscow, to manufacture 63 Russian Mi-17 rotorcraft helicopters that will assist Afghanistan security forces. This will cost the American taxpayer more than $1 billion. Why are we selling out U.S. manufacturing jobs when employees like the 1,000 at the Lockheed Martin plant in Newtown, Bucks County, are losing their jobs this Christmas season?

In a victory for local zoning laws, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court declared major pieces of Act 13, the state's oil and gas law, unconstitutional. In a 4-2 vote, the court upheld much of the decision of the Commonwealth Court. That court struck down Act 13's most powerful tool for gas drillers — a provision that gave them almost unfettered access to drill, even in residential zones. In a stinging rebuke of the law, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said Pennsylvania is bound by its constitution to protect its resources, but the law had the opposite effect.

Work continues on the Dorneyville Bypass to alleviate congestion at Hamilton and Cedar Crest boulevards. The aerial photo shows Dorney Park at the lower left. The bypass will wind around past the park and the Food Lane, which is in the center of the photo.

A Canadian truck driver overturned his rig on Grim Road at the Route 222 bypass early Thursday, causing a section of Grim Road to be closed in one direction during morning rush hour traffic. The driver, Edgar Leaman, 57, of Nova Scotia, was not injured. He was driving south on the Route 222 bypass and attempted to make a sudden right turn onto Grim Road when the truck rolled onto its side, Upper Macungie Township Police Department said. According to police, Leaman was heading to Reading and mistakenly believed he had to turn right on Grim Road.

When the 6.2-mile stretch of the Route 222 Bypass in western Lehigh County opened to motorists in 2007, it was billed as both a cure for chronic rush-hour congestion on Hamilton Boulevard in one of the fastest growing areas of the state and a conduit to spur economic development. What it wasn't intended to do - at least according to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission - was attract a mega shopping center with a Costco and Whole Foods that a pair of developers wants to build near Krocks Road in Lower Macungie Township.